Matcha World

“everyone buzzed on the caffeine, antioxidant spiked brew…”

I don’t know what we were expecting but my friend Dave and I were smack dab in the middle of matcha world. Uji City to be exact, an hour by train outside of Kyoto, Japan. This is where the best matcha green tea in the world is grown and it’s abundant. Matcha ice cream, matcha chestnut cake, matcha jello, everything glowing neon green and everyone buzzed on the caffeine, antioxidant spiked brew itself. It is the Disneyland of matcha and there’s more pride in that town than the nosebleed seats at a Yankees game in October.

The experience stole the trip, yes it was touristy, but it was also steeped in tradition and I left Uji City feeling like I went 0–60 in matcha mental capacity. It reminded me that with food, the more you put yourself out there to explore new tastes, the more you learn and increase your chances of being pleasantly surprised.